YOUTH 1/3

LEADERSHIP:
RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR
SUSTAINABILITY

YOUTH-LED
Youth-led organisations are also important because through their work, they
allow young people to exercise their right to participation (to be involved, to

ORGANISATIONS: WHY
lead and to take action) in improving their health and well being around the
world. Participation may mean being actively involved in the planning,

THEY MATTER
Youth-led non-governmental organisations are those that are fully led, managed
and coordinated by young people. In the case of an organisation, it means
that staff and members are all below a certain age, and work on a variety of
issues from a youth perspective. While youth-led organisations have become
increasingly visible in the international, regional and national arenas, many are
still struggling to gain recognition as important players in international
decision-making processes.
Now more than ever, youth-led organisations are critical to advancing public
health because of the sheer numbers of young people in the world today.
Currently, almost half the world’s population is under 25 – that’s three billion
young people. These numbers alone may help explain why so many programmes
and policies today have begun to focus on young people. Clearly, young people
have a critical role to play in leading initiatives and developing policies when they
make up such a significant part of the world’s population.
implementation and evaluation of development activities, programmes and
policies that affect their lives.1
Lastly, youth-led organisations play a key role in contributing to the success
of programmes, projects or initiatives related to young people. Young people have
the best understanding of the challenges, strengths and opportunities that affect
them. Youth-led organisations are in a unique position to develop and implement
initiatives that address issues from a youth perspective and offer solutions that
respond to the diverse realities of young people. When young people are mean-
ingfully included in the design, implementation and evaluation of youth-related
programmes, policies and services, these initiatives can be more effective and
ultimately more sustainable.2
In order to achieve sustainable youth leadership, a strong commitment and
investment from young leaders and youth organisations themselves is needed, in
addition to the support of funders, non-youth organisations, organisers of meet-
ings and conferences, and decision-making bodies.
This document provides insights into the unique challenges that youth-led
organisations face, followed by concrete recommendations on how all actors can
best support and facilitate youth leadership.

THE BASICS
state of transition. With aging out come new because it “looks good” to have a youth
young members and staff, new knowledge, representative or because a guideline exists on
ideas and skills, but it also means a potential including young people. However, often no actu-

ON YOUTH-LED loss of organisational history, knowledge, skills,

contacts and more.
al feedback from youth participants is expected,
welcomed or integrated into the outcomes of

ORGANISATIONS:
the process. This is especially true when a com-
2. High mobility: In addition to the frequent mitment to meaningful youth leadership is lack-
turn-over rates among staff and members due ing or not well understood by other stakehold-

CHALLENGES
to aging out, the high mobility of young people ers. While many in the international community
is a challenge. Young people often have to believe that “elders always know best,” this is
move on because of school, work or family. For not always the case, especially when dealing

AND RECOM- youth-led organisations, this means additional

turnover as members and staff transition out
with issues that directly affect young people.

MENDATIONS
The following describes some of the key challenges
faced by youth-led organisations. Some of these
challenges are intrinsic to the nature of youth-led
organisations and can be anticipated. Some describe
challenges that other non-governmental
organisations face as well, however, they may be
further intensified by the youth-specific challenges.
1. Aging-out: For youth organisations to remain
truly youth-led, there is a process called “aging
out,” where members and staff transition out of
the organisation when they reach a certain age.
The age at which staff and members age-out
depends on the organisation and its cultural
context. In some youth organisations, young
people age-out when they turn 25 while in
others they may age-out when they turn 30. As
a result, youth organisations are in a constant
before aging-out.
3. Constant orientation, training and re-training:
While new leadership is a positive thing for
youth-led organisations to stay true to their
structure, it also creates a constant need to
orient, train and retrain members and staff.
4. Leadership opportunities for a select few:
Often meeting organisers invite the same young
individuals because they are only familiar with
a few young leaders. Due to this, gaps of
knowledge can develop within organisations
and amongst young colleagues as a few
select individuals gain skills and contacts. In
addition, if the same individuals continuously
represent young people in different proceedings,
the important diversities among young people
are over-simplified and misrepresented. Youth-
led organisations are parts of all constituencies
and this diversity should be recognised.
5. Moving past tokenism: Often when youth are
invited to meetings, conferences or to give
input on policies and programmes, it is simply
6. Not just volunteers: Young people are often
seen as volunteers--individuals who will work
for free just for the chance to participate. While
volunteering is a great thing and an integral part
of many organisations, we must beware of
acting as if all young people ought to be
volunteers. The work of young people needs
to be valued and recognised, and part of this
means monetary remuneration. Without
remuneration, young people often seek
employment in other fields, which diminishes
their capacity to become meaningfully involved.
7. Lack of or limited core funding: Youth-led
organisations face extreme difficulty securing
funds for core operating costs, including the
funds necessary to run an office, compensate
staff and cover other overhead expenses. This is
especially true for youth organisations that may
have limited experience and lack a financial his-
tory. While all organisations face these
challenges, the constant turnover of staff and
leadership that youth-led organisations
experience makes this a particularly difficult
hurdle.

RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR YOUTH-LED
ORGANISATIONS
1. Develop a clear mission and develop a
strategic plan for the organisation that
identifies a niche and guides priorities for the
short and long term. Like any organisation, it
is important for youth-led organisations to
support their own core development through
strategic planning. Such planning is important
to keeping the organisation’s work focused,
effective and realistic.
2. Establish a process, plan and budget for
ongoing recruitment of younger staff and
members in anticipation of aging out. Given
the need for youth-led organisations to
frequently replace members who leave due to
life changes or those who age out, anticipat-
ing and planning for re-recruitment of younger
members and staff is fundamental. Building
recruitment efforts into the work of those
currently working for the organisation can help
ensure a more sustained influx of new young
people. Posting regular announcements for
membership with rolling admission can also
be helpful in attracting new young people
over time.
RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR FUNDERS
1. Help youth-led organisations fund their core
costs. Funders must acknowledge that core
funding for staff turnover, annual meetings,
marketing and communications, recruitment,
internal training, strategic planning, staff
salaries and other organisational costs are
essential. Sustainable youth leadership requires
having young people in paid coordinator,
director and/or leadership roles of
organisations, projects and initiatives.
2. Provide long-term funding for a minimum of
one to three year terms. Funders with an
interest in young people can make an effort
to get to know youth-led organisations and
3. Plan and implement ongoing orientation and
training for new staff and members. As older
members age out and new staff and members
are recruited, the outgoing staff and members
should orient the new staff and members to
pass on information related to organisational
history, existing commitments to funders and
partner organisations, as well as contacts.
Training should also be provided in areas
deemed important by the organisation, such as
strengthening of knowledge on key issues and
skills important to the work of the organisa-
tion. The expenses related to this need to be
budgeted for in advance.
4. Create a nomination process that maximises
access to opportunities for as many members
as possible, as opposed to only a select few.
While opportunities for youth engagement can
come at the last minute with tight deadlines,
making it difficult to gather information on a
wider selection of young people to nominate,
steps can be taken to facilitate channelling
opportunities to a larger number of young
people. For example, sending alerts about
opportunities to a listserv of members or
through other networks can broaden reach
of urgent opportunities for youth engagement
and leadership. Also, creating an internal
database of bios and/or photos of members
of the organisation can be helpful in passing
on recommendations for calls for youth
participation, speakers, media work or other
engagements.
develop relationships with them. Designing,
implementing and evaluating youth programs
takes time and longer-term funding would
facilitate more strategic, sustainable program-
ming as opposed to short-term, one time
events. While support for short-term projects is
appreciated, such grants in absence of broader
funding often take staff time away from fulfill-
ing other organisational objectives and leave
organisations struggling to cover administra-
tive costs.
3. Support institutional capacity building of
youth-led organisations, including fundrais-
ing skills. Youth-led initiatives often lack the
fundraising expertise, staff experience and
long-term relationship that facilitate fundrais-
ing. Fundraising support and capacity building
support are necessary for youth-led organisa-
tions to function effectively.
2/3
5. Prepare members or staff with the necessary
information and training to support their
meaningful participation if selected for
particular opportunities or events. For example,
provide training in public speaking if selected
for a presentation, in the role of a board
member, if recruited to serve on a board of
directors, or on how to talk to a reporter if
invited for an interview.
6. Create policies, plans and a budget for
remuneration or other forms of compensation
for young people’s efforts and time. Establish
organisational policies that relate to remunera-
tion and budget for, as well as implement,
these policies consistently. For example, will
members be paid for their time and/or will they
receive a stipend to cover transportation to
meetings and food?
7. Seek out opportunities for partnerships with
other youth-led and youth-serving organisa-
tions and work in coalition to leverage efforts.
When resources are limited, partnerships are
critical to advancing efforts and building on
existing and complementary initiatives.
8 Seek funding from diverse sources if at all
possible, including local government, private
foundations, international agencies, or
individual funders. Obtaining funds, however
small, from diverse entities provides more
organisational flexibility as well as financial
security.
4. Fund organisational development projects,
including incorporation processes. Many youth-
led organisations start off as projects of larger
more established organisations and over time
gain more autonomy as separate entities.
An important step for the growth of a youth-led
organisation is to apply for incorporated status
as an independent organisation from the
appropriate governing authorities. This will
enable the organisation to be a fully youth-led
independent organisation. However,
independence processes can be costly, since
they usually involve legal council. It is
therefore important that youth-led organisa-
tions have financial support to assist them in
the transition towards independence. This
support should include the costs of legal fees,
as well as administrative and organisational
support required for the staff leading this
process.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
2. Support young people through initiatives 4. Develop effective policies and programs that are
that encourage youth leadership at the local, grounded in best practices that seek to ensure

FOR NON-YOUTH LED

national and international level. It is essential sustainable youth leadership.
that youth allies and partners encourage not
only one young person who they deem expert, 5. Establish two-way learning opportunities,

ORGANISATIONS but rather a group of young people with col-

1. Trust in the work of youth-led organisations and
believe that young people are their own experts.
Encourage inputs, engage and work jointly with
youth-led organisations. Work to build
meaningful youth-adult partnerships, which can
be beneficial to both youth-led and non-youth-
led organisations. It is important for youth-
serving organisations to recognise young
people as full partners, inviting them to the
table not because it is the “politically correct”
thing to do or to fill a quota, but because their
contribution is needed, respected and will be
taken seriously.
lective knowledge on the issue. In this way not
only the knowledge, skills and network of one
individual benefit, but rather the organisation as
a whole benefits.
3. Integrate young people into the organisation’s
work through staffing, board membership and
other institutional leadership opportunities.
Sustainable youth leadership means
institutionally supporting young people as
leaders and as equal partners in order to build
on previous accomplishments and to continue
our joint efforts – and not only having young
people as interns or administrative assistants.
where youth are not only seen as mentees but
as mentors also.3 For example, engage in a
two-way mentorship relationship with a youth-
led organisation. There are several areas in
which many youth-led initiatives need advice
and guidance – from legal and financial issues
to technical expertise. In return, youth-led
organisations can offer youth-serving
organisations access to youth networks,
program expertise, and general guidance.
6. Share fundraising skills and provide support to
youth-led organisations by providing letters of
support or introducing a youth organisation to
relevant funders.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Allow youth constituencies to choose members experience, and capacity building and facilitate
to represent young people at global, regional the transition process immensely by building

FOR THE
and national meetings and events. This can new leadership capacity. This approach allows
ensure that the young person is supported by for greater youth participation and inclusion
his/her peers and is knowledgeable about the while also facilitating member and staff

ORGANISERS OF specific issues being addressed. transitions and organisational development.

CONFERENCES AND 2. Follow the Take Two principle. When you invite
someone from a youth organisation to a

MEETINGS
meeting, invite two: one more experienced
member, and one newer one. This will
contribute to the sharing of knowledge,

Programme of Action of the International

Additional Resources
1

Conference on Population and Development,

Action 6.15, http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/
Building Leadership for an Effective Organization: Selected Annotated Bibliography
2
Family Health International Youth Participation http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/frtp/leadership.pdf
Guide: Assessment, Planning, and Implementa-
tion, 2005. Approaching Foundations (From Research to Practice)
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/frtp/foundations.pdf
3
Examples of best practices in this sense include:
Youth Partnerships Initiative, World AIDS Cultivating Individual Donors (From Research to Practice)
Campaign, Mexico YouthForce, http://www. http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/frtp/indivdonors.pdf
worldaidscampaign.org/en/Constituencies/
Youth/WAC-and-Youth/Youth-Partnership-Ini-
Ensuring Financial Sustainability: Selected Annotated Bibliography (From Research to Practice)
tiative; Multi-generational dialogue on activism
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/frtp/financial.pdf
and women’s rights organised by CWGL, CREA
and the Youth Coalition in Sept-Oct 2007, http://
Fund-Raising Tips for Local Organizations (From Research to Practice)
www.youthcoalition.org/site08/html/index.
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/frtp/fundraisingtips.pdf
php?id_art=82&id_cat=5
Youth Coalition: history of a youth-led organization
http://www.youthcoalition.org/site08/html/index.php?id_art=145&id_cat=2

The flower of participation

http://www.choiceforyouth.org/index.cfm?vID=11399323-1143-5B72-683F3F91497C2263
Design: horspistes.co.uk